Tuesday, February 3, 1998Last modified at 12:52 p.m. on Monday, February 2, 1998

Clinton budget includes billions for Texas

WASHINGTON (AP) - The $1.7 trillion budget unveiled Monday by the White House includes billions of dollars for Texas, running the gamut from new buses for Houston and more money for bilingual education to next-generation jet fighters and Border Patrol agents.

The release of the president's fiscal blueprint is just the first step in an annual Washington ritual.

Now that the White House wish list has been forwarded to Capitol Hill, Congress begins a months-long process of imposing its own financial priorities. As in years past, the goals of the Democratic White House and the Republican-led Congress are sure to diverge frequently.

Republicans professed little excitement for the Clinton budget, which is the first balanced budget submission in 30 years.

"It may sound like a political cliche, but this budget comes as close to a tax-and-spend budget as any budget we've seen since 1979, since Jimmy Carter was president," said Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, estimating that the budget includes $130 billion in new spending and $115 billion in added taxes.

"I believe we can and will stand up and say `No' to this budget," Gramm added.

Democrats, predictably, were more complimentary.

"The president has presented a budget that balances while still proposing admirable investments in education, child care, worker training and medical research," said Rep. Ken Bentsen, D-Houston, a member of the House Budget Committee.

How the budget is shaped by Washington policymakers is of keen importance to Texas, which received nearly $87 billion in direct federal payments in 1996.

To the delight of anti-hunger groups and immigrant advocates, Clinton proposed restoration of food stamps to 730,000 of the 935,000 legal immigrants drummed from the federal rolls as part of Congress' 1996 welfare overhaul. The price tag would be $2.4 billion over five years.

Texas is among 10 states that have stepped in to provide food stamps to some of the most vulnerable legal immigrants.wvhncnoncitizensxxmvmidro

si-ndoapdnceneioiakIn matters military, the armed services' continued focus on air power bodes well for defense contractors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The $252.6 billion defense budget earmarks billions for continued development of the F-22 fighter and V-22 Osprey, which have major ties to the Fort Worth area. Hundreds of millions of dollars more are allocated for high-tech missiles and munitions assembled in North Texas.

The budget also seeks a 3.1 percent pay raise for military personnel.

More ominously for defenders of Texas military bases, the budget includes a proposal to hold new base-closing rounds in 2001 and 2005. Congress shot down a similar recommendation last year.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said her priority will be increasing defense readiness. "As we approach a possible conflict with Iraq, there are a number of troubling indicators that 12 straight years of defense cuts and diversion of resources to missions in Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia, have eroded our military readiness," she said.